Dubs beat Cavan 1-09 to 0-07 with late surge

A strong final ten minutes saw Dublin shake off the challenge of Cavan and make it maximun points from three games in their NFL Division 2 programme at a wet and windy Breffni Park on Saturday night.

Just inside the last chapter of the game a good Dublin attacking move concluded with an astute ball from Mark Vaughan to sub Conal Keaney who pointed from close range.

A minute later Jason Sherlock released Alan Brogan through on goal his soccer style side-footed effort hit the inside of James Reilly's left-hand post and ran along the face of the goal from where his younger brother Bernard applied the finishing touch to catapult the Dubs into a 1-8 to 0-7 lead.

At the other end Stephen Cluxton had to be alert to stop a close-range Dermot McCabe effort after the veteran Gowna man was moved to the edge of the square from midfield.

With three minutes of normal time remaining Paul Flynn threaded a ball inside to Bernard Brogan who, although covered by two markers, outfoxed the pair to kick an insurance point.

The end of the game contrasted sharply with the opening exchanges when Cavan carried the game to a mis-firing Dublin and the home side led 0-5 to 0-1 after 19 minutes.

Seanie Johnston and Martin Reilly were the best of the Cavan forwards during this period, while Michael Lyng was afforded too much latitude to pull the strings, with Johnston punishing fouling by under-pressure Dublin defenders when converting four frees.

However, the switch of Jason Sherlock out to the half-forward line brought greater direction and organisation to the Dublin attack and they concluded the opening half on the up with four unanswered points.

Mark Vaughan kick-started this late first half scoring spree with a point from play before Sherlock, Alan and Bernard Brogan combined for Brendan McManamon to kick his second point on his starting league debut.

Vaughan increased his personal tally with a 35-metre free and then a superb '45' from way on on the right half side to bring parity, 0-5 each, in first half injury-time.